Ship salvaging apparatus



Sept. 11, 1962 A. s ERICKSON SHIP SALVAGING APPARATUS Filed Jan. 5, 1959 n mi; .mmy wfi E S. w ,TM a? m M A United States tet 3,053,213 SHIP SALVAGING APPARATUS Albert S. Erickson, P.0. Box 1058, Tacoma, Wash. Filed Jan. 5, 1959, Ser. No. 785,012 4 Claims. (c1. 114-s4) This invention relates to ship salvaging apparatus. It pertains particularly to inflatable apparatus for use in raising sunken ships, barges, boats or other objects to the surface of the water.

It is the general object of this invention to provide apparatus for raising sunken ships which utilizes the stout framing members, decks, bulkheads, or the like surrounding the individual rooms and compartments of the ship, to provide backing for inflatable air-tight liners which, when inflated, impart suflicient buoyancy to the vessel to float it to the surface.

It is a further object of this invention to provide such a liner which is inexpensive and easily used in compartments or rooms of varying size, shape and accessibility.

Still another object of this invention is the provision of a collapsible backing member for such a liner, to be located across doors, portholes, or other openings in the rooms or compartments in which the liner is to be located.

The manner in which the foregoing and other objects of this invention are accomplished will be apparent from the accompanying specification and claims considered together with the drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a room or compartment in a sunken ship, illustrating the herein described apparatus in position and ready for use; and

FIGS. 2 and 3 are front elevational views of a collapsible backing member for use in conjunction with the liner illustrated in FIG. 1 and showing respectively opened and collapsed conditions thereof.

Generally stated, the ship salvaging apparatus of my invention comprises in combination an inflatable liner made of a flexible, substantially gas-impervious sheet material dimensioned to substantially fill a room or compartment in a sunken vessel, and when inflated, to line the interior thereof. The liner has at least one, preferably a plurality of outlet openings at spaced intervals at or near the bottom for connection to a source of gas under pressure. Backing members are provided for spanning doors, portholes, and other openings, thereby providing means for backing up the liner.

Hence, upon inflation of the liner it substantially completely fills the room or compartment, bearing against the strong structural members thereof and conforming to any contour irregularities which may be present in its walls, ceiling, or floor. When provided in sufficient capacity, such inflated liners will impart sufficient buoyancy to the vessel to raise it to the surface.

Considering the foregoing in greater detail and with particular reference to the drawings:

In FIG. 1, a room or compartment in a sunken vessel is indicated by the numeral 10. It is built with a door 12 and various interior surface irregularities indicated by the numeral '14.

To elevate the vessel, a diver inserts in one or more of such rooms an inflatable liner 16. This may be made of any sort of flexible, substantially gas-impervious sheet material but preferably is made of sheet plastic, plasticcoated fabric, rubber or neoprene coated nylon. The liner is of sufficient dimensions to substantially fill the room, bearing against all or most of the surfaces thereof and wrapping itself around any irregularities which may be present on the walls, ceiling, or floor.

When locating the liner in rooms or compartments of varying size and contour, it obviously is difficult to arrange it in such a manner that convenient access to its Patented Sept. 11, 1962 inflation outlet is aflorded to the diver. In the present invention this difficulty is overcome by providing a plurality of such outlets 18, 20, 22 at spaced intervals along the bottom of the liner. Each of these may be provided with suitable means for connection to an air line. In addition, each may be provided with a weighted member 24, 26, 28, respectively, which serves to keep the outlet as well as the liner itself, in an upright position with the outlet pointed downwardly, thereby insuring that the liner can be filled to capacity. Although, as has been pointed out above, use is made in the present invention of the walls, ceiling and floor as buttressing surfaces for the presently described liners, it will be apparent that there will be present in such surfaces doors, portholes, or other openings which should be closed off in order to provide continuity of backing surface.

Accordingly the backing members illustrated particularly in FIGS. 2 and 3 are provided. Such members comprise a frame which may be of any convenient size and dimensions, the respective members 28, 29 of which are interconnected by hinges 30, 32. Hinges 30 are arranged in such a manner that the entire frame assembly may be collapsed in its own plane, as is illustrated in FIG. 3. This enables the diver to carry it conveniently to the sites of operations.

Hinges 32, on the other hand, work in a plane at right angles to that of hinges 3t Thus a door is provided which may be opened to the dotted outline position of FIG. 1 by the diver as required to enter and leave the room.

A web member 34, which conveniently may comprise a net of mesh fabric, nylon or other material, is also included in the backing member assembly.

When using the herein described liners in salvaging operations, the diver first selects the required number of rooms and compartments spaced throughout the ship. In each of them he erects the backing members across the doors and other openings. Then, using the hinged lower section of the backing members as necessary for entering or leaving, he introduces a deflated liner into each room, placing the outlets 18, 20, 22 at the bottom and securing them in that position by means of weights 24, 26, 2.8.

When this is done one of the outlets, for example outlet 18, will be in a position adjacent a normal opening in the room such as door 12. A bottle of compressed gas then may be brought down for connection to the available outlet, thereby inflating the liner. In the alternative, the outlets can be connected directly to an air pump or other source of compressed gas on a surface vessel.

As the liners are inflated, they fill the rooms or compartments substantially completely, conforming to any irregularities of contour and, when fully inflated, bearing against the side walls, decks and framing members of the ship.

When the buoyancy of the ship has increased sufficiently, it will begin to rise. Thereupon the expanded gas in the liners will be able to escape through outlets 18, 20, 22 and thus prevent rupture of the liners by excessive gas pressure. In this manner the ship may be brought to the surface.

Thus it will be apparent that by the present invention I have provided ship salvaging apparatus which is adaptable for use in elevating ships of various size and construction, which is inexpensive and easily applied, and which makes use of the strength inherent in the ship itself for supplying buoyancy thereto.

It is to be understood that the form of my invention herein shown and described is to be taken as a preferred example of the same and that various changes in the shape, size and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of my invention or the scope of the subjoined claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. Vessel salvaging apparatus comprising in combination an inflatable liner made of flexible, substantially gasimpervious sheet material dimensioned to substantially fill a compartment in a sunken vessel and, when inflated, to line the interior thereof; an outlet opening in the bottom of the liner for connection to a source of gas under pressure; and a backing member dimensioned to be located across the inside of an opening in a compartment the backing member having intermediate openings permitting the discharge of water forced from the compartment upon inflation of the liner and at the same time providing a backing support for the liner in the opening.

2. Vessel salvaging apparatus comprising in combination an inflatable liner made of flexible, substantially gasimpervious sheet material dimensioned to substantially fill a compartment in a sunken vessel and, when inflated, to line the interior thereof, whereby the compartment forms an encasement limiting expansion of the liner and the liner in expanded condition establishes buoyancy for the vessel, and a backing member dimensioned to be located across the inside of an opening in a compartment of the vessel, the backing member having intermediate openings therein, permitting the discharge of water forced from the compartment upon inflation of the liner and at the same time providing backing support for the liner in the opening.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the backing member comprises a peripheral frame, and hinge means interconnecting the frame member at the corners thereof and arranged to permit lengthwise collapsing thereof.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the backing member comprises a peripheral frame, hinge means interconnecting the frame member at the corners thereof and arranged to permit lengthwise collapsing thereof, and a hinged door section on the frame dimensioned to afford access through the backing member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 705,278 McKeever July 22, 1902 906,716 Jelpo Dec. 15, 1908 1,019,724 Polizzi et al Mar. 5, 1912 1,474,675 Kirkness Nov. 20, 1923 1,486,131 Dutton Mar. 11, 1924 1,863,732 Schwager June 21, 1932 2,047,085 Speer July 7, 1936 2,335,274 Hampton Nov. 30, 1943 2,403,806 Langdon July 9, 1946 2,850,087 Janaman Sept. 2, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 135,321 Great Britain Nov. 27, 1919 

